Born and raised in de Austrian Empire, Teswa received an advanced education in engineering and physics in de 1870s and gained practicaw experience in de earwy 1880s working in tewephony and at Continentaw Edison in de new ewectric power industry. He emigrated to de United States in 1884, where he wouwd become a naturawized citizen, uh-hah-hah-hah. He worked for a short time at de Edison Machine Works in New York City before he struck out on his own, uh-hah-hah-hah. Wif de hewp of partners to finance and market his ideas, Teswa set up waboratories and companies in New York to devewop a range of ewectricaw and mechanicaw devices. His awternating current (AC) induction motor and rewated powyphase AC patents, wicensed by Westinghouse Ewectric in 1888, earned him a considerabwe amount of money and became de cornerstone of de powyphase system which dat company wouwd eventuawwy market.

Attempting to devewop inventions he couwd patent and market, Teswa conducted a range of experiments wif mechanicaw osciwwators/generators, ewectricaw discharge tubes, and earwy X-ray imaging. He awso buiwt a wirewess-controwwed boat, one of de first ever exhibited. Teswa became weww known as an inventor and wouwd demonstrate his achievements to cewebrities and weawdy patrons at his wab, and was noted for his showmanship at pubwic wectures.

Throughout de 1890s, Teswa wouwd pursue his ideas for wirewess wighting and worwdwide wirewess ewectric power distribution in his high-vowtage, high-freqwency power experiments in New York and Coworado Springs. In 1893, he made pronouncements on de possibiwity of wirewess communication wif his devices. Teswa tried to put dese ideas to practicaw use in his unfinished Wardencwyffe Tower project, an intercontinentaw wirewess communication and power transmitter, but ran out of funding before he couwd compwete it.[6]

After Wardencwyffe, Teswa went on to try to devewop a series of inventions in de 1910s and 1920s wif varying degrees of success. Having spent most of his money, he wived in a series of New York hotews, weaving behind unpaid biwws. The nature of his earwier work and de pronouncements he made to de press water in wife earned him de reputation of an archetypaw "mad scientist" in American popuwar cuwture.[7] Teswa died in New York City in January 1943.[8] His work feww into rewative obscurity fowwowing his deaf, but in 1960, de Generaw Conference on Weights and Measures named de SI unit of magnetic fwux density de teswa in his honor.[9] There has been a resurgence in popuwar interest in Teswa since de 1990s.[10]

Earwy years

Rebuiwt, Teswa's house (parish haww) in Smiwjan, now in Croatia, where he was born, and de rebuiwt church, where his fader served. During de Yugoswav Wars, severaw of de buiwdings were severewy damaged by fire. They were restored and reopened in 2006.[11]

Teswa was de fourf of five chiwdren, uh-hah-hah-hah. He had dree sisters, Miwka, Angewina and Marica, and an owder broder named Dane, who was kiwwed in a horse riding accident when Teswa was aged five.[23] In 1861, Teswa attended primary schoow in Smiwjan where he studied German, aridmetic, and rewigion, uh-hah-hah-hah.[24] In 1862, de Teswa famiwy moved to de nearby Gospić, Lika where Teswa's fader worked as parish priest. Nikowa compweted primary schoow, fowwowed by middwe schoow.[24]

Teswa wouwd water write dat he became interested in demonstrations of ewectricity by his physics professor.[27] Teswa noted dat dese demonstrations of dis "mysterious phenomena" made him want "to know more of dis wonderfuw force".[28] Teswa was abwe to perform integraw cawcuwus in his head, which prompted his teachers to bewieve dat he was cheating.[29] He finished a four-year term in dree years, graduating in 1873.[30]

In 1873, Teswa returned to Smiwjan, uh-hah-hah-hah. Shortwy after he arrived, he contracted chowera, was bedridden for nine monds and was near deaf muwtipwe times. Teswa's fader, in a moment of despair, (who had originawwy wanted him to enter de priesdood)[31] promised to send him to de best engineering schoow if he recovered from de iwwness.[25][24]

In 1874, Teswa evaded conscription into de Austro-Hungarian Army in Smiwjan[32] by running away soudeast of Lika to Tomingaj, near Gračac. There he expwored de mountains wearing hunter's garb. Teswa said dat dis contact wif nature made him stronger, bof physicawwy and mentawwy.[24] He read many books whiwe in Tomingaj and water said dat Mark Twain's works had hewped him to miracuwouswy recover from his earwier iwwness.[25]

In 1875, Teswa enrowwed at Austrian Powytechnic in Graz, Austria, on a Miwitary Frontier schowarship. During his first year, Teswa never missed a wecture, earned de highest grades possibwe, passed nine exams[25][24] (nearwy twice as many as reqwired[33]), started a Serb cuwturaw cwub,[24] and even received a wetter of commendation from de dean of de technicaw facuwty to his fader, which stated, "Your son is a star of first rank."[33] During his second year, Teswa came into confwict wif Professor Poeschw over de Gramme dynamo, when Teswa suggested dat commutators were not necessary.

Teswa cwaimed dat he worked from 3 a.m. to 11 p.m., no Sundays or howidays excepted.[25] He was "mortified when [his] fader made wight of [dose] hard won honors." After his fader's deaf in 1879,[32] Teswa found a package of wetters from his professors to his fader, warning dat unwess he were removed from de schoow, Teswa wouwd die drough overwork. At de end of his second year, Teswa wost his schowarship and became addicted to gambwing.[25][24] During his dird year, Teswa gambwed away his awwowance and his tuition money, water gambwing back his initiaw wosses and returning de bawance to his famiwy. Teswa said dat he "conqwered [his] passion den and dere," (but water in de US he was again known to pway biwwiards). When examination time came, Teswa was unprepared and asked for an extension to study, but was denied. He did not receive grades for de wast semester of de dird year and he never graduated from de university.[32]

Teswa aged 23, c. 1879

In December 1878, Teswa weft Graz and severed aww rewations wif his famiwy to hide de fact dat he dropped out of schoow.[32] His friends dought dat he had drowned in de nearby Mur River.[34] Teswa moved to Maribor, where he worked as a draftsman for 60 fworins per monf. He spent his spare time pwaying cards wif wocaw men on de streets.[32]

In March 1879, Teswa's fader went to Maribor to beg his son to return home, but he refused.[24] Nikowa suffered a nervous breakdown around de same time.[34] On 24 March 1879, Teswa was returned to Gospić under powice guard for not having a residence permit.

On 17 Apriw 1879, Miwutin Teswa died at de age of 60 after contracting an unspecified iwwness.[24] Some sources say dat he died of a stroke.[35] During dat year, Teswa taught a warge cwass of students in his owd schoow in Gospić.[24]

In January 1880, two of Teswa's uncwes put togeder enough money to hewp him weave Gospić for Prague, where he was to study. He arrived too wate to enroww at Charwes-Ferdinand University; he had never studied Greek, a reqwired subject; and he was iwwiterate in Czech, anoder reqwired subject. Teswa did, however, attend wectures in phiwosophy at de university as an auditor and he did not receive grades for de courses.[24][36][37]

Working at Budapest Tewephone Exchange

In 1881, Teswa moved to Budapest, Hungary, to work under Tivadar Puskás at a tewegraph company, de Budapest Tewephone Exchange. Upon arrivaw, Teswa reawized dat de company, den under construction, was not functionaw, so he worked as a draftsman in de Centraw Tewegraph Office instead. Widin a few monds, de Budapest Tewephone Exchange became functionaw, and Teswa was awwocated de chief ewectrician position, uh-hah-hah-hah.[24] During his empwoyment, Teswa made many improvements to de Centraw Station eqwipment and cwaimed to have perfected a tewephone repeater or ampwifier, which was never patented nor pubwicwy described.[25]

Working at Edison

In 1882, Tivadar Puskás got Teswa anoder job in Paris wif de Continentaw Edison Company.[38] Teswa began working in what was den a brand new industry, instawwing indoor incandescent wighting citywide in de form of an ewectric power utiwity. The company had severaw subdivisions and Teswa worked at de Société Ewectriqwe Edison, de division in de Ivry-sur-Seine suburb of Paris in charge of instawwing de wighting system. There he gained a great deaw of practicaw experience in ewectricaw engineering. Management took notice of his advanced knowwedge in engineering and physics and soon had him designing and buiwding improved versions of generating dynamos and motors.[39] They awso sent him on to troubweshoot engineering probwems at oder Edison utiwities being buiwt around France and in Germany.

A move to de US

Edison Machine Works on Goerck Street, New York. Teswa found de change from cosmopowitan Europe to working at dis shop, wocated amongst de tenements on Manhattan's wower east side, a "painfuw surprise".[40]

In 1884, Edison manager Charwes Batchewor, who had been overseeing de Paris instawwation, was brought back to de US to manage de Edison Machine Works, a manufacturing division situated in New York City, and asked dat Teswa be brought to de US as weww.[41] In June 1884, Teswa emigrated to de United States.[42] He began working awmost immediatewy at de Machine Works on Manhattan's Lower East Side, an overcrowded shop wif a workforce of severaw hundred machinists, waborers, managing staff, and 20 "fiewd engineers" struggwing wif de task of buiwding de warge ewectric utiwity in dat city.[43] As in Paris, Teswa was working on troubweshooting instawwations and improving generators.[44] Historian W. Bernard Carwson notes Teswa may have met company founder, Thomas Awva Edison, onwy a coupwe of times.[43] One of dose times was noted in Teswa's autobiography where, after staying up aww night repairing de damaged dynamos on de ocean winer SS Oregon, he ran into Batchewor and Edison who made a qwip about deir "Parisian" being out aww night. After Teswa towd dem he had been up aww night fixing de Oregon Edison commented to Batchewor dat "dis is a damned good man, uh-hah-hah-hah."[40] One of de projects given to Teswa was to devewop an arc wamp–based street wighting system.[45][46] Arc wighting was de most popuwar type of street wighting but it reqwired high vowtages and was incompatibwe wif de Edison wow vowtage incandescent system, causing de company to wose contracts in cities dat wanted street wighting as weww. Teswa's designs were never put into production, possibwy because of technicaw improvements in incandescent street wighting or because of an instawwation deaw dat Edison cut wif an arc wighting company.[47]

Teswa had been working at de Machine Works for a totaw of six monds when he qwit.[43] What event precipitated him weaving is uncwear. It may have been over a bonus he did not receive, eider for redesigning generators or for de arc wighting system dat was shewved.[45] Teswa had previous run-ins wif de Edison company over unpaid bonuses he bewieved he had earned.[48][49] In his own biography, Teswa stated de manager of de Edison Machine Works offered a $50,000 bonus to design "twenty-four different types of standard machines" "but it turned out to be a practicaw joke".[50] Later versions of dis story have Thomas Edison himsewf offering and den reneging on de deaw qwipping "Teswa, you don't understand our American humor."[51][52] The size of de bonus in eider story has been noted as odd since Machine Works manager Batchewor was stingy wif pay[53] and de company did not have dat sort of cash (eqwivawent to $12 miwwion today) on hand.[54][55] Teswa's diary contains just one comment on what happened at de end of his empwoyment, a note he scrawwed across de two pages covering December 7, 1884 to January 4, 1885 saying "Good by to de Edison Machine Works".[56][46]

Teswa Ewectric Light & Manufacturing

Soon after weaving de Edison company, Teswa was working on patenting an arc wighting system,[57] possibwy de same one he had devewoped at Edison, uh-hah-hah-hah.[43] In March 1885, he met wif patent attorney Lemuew W. Serreww, de same attorney used by Edison, to obtain hewp wif submitting de patents.[57] Serreww introduced Teswa to two businessmen, Robert Lane and Benjamin Vaiw, who agreed to finance an arc wighting manufacturing and utiwity company in Teswa's name, de Teswa Ewectric Light & Manufacturing.[58] Teswa worked for de rest of de year obtaining de patents dat incwuded an improved DC generator, de first patents issued to Teswa in de US, and buiwding and instawwing de system in Rahway, New Jersey[59] Teswa's new system gained notice in de technicaw press, which commented on its advanced features.

The investors showed wittwe interest in Teswa's ideas for new types of awternating current motors and ewectricaw transmission eqwipment. After de utiwity was up and running in 1886, dey decided dat de manufacturing side of de business was too competitive and opted to simpwy run an ewectric utiwity.[60] They formed a new utiwity company, abandoning Teswa's company and weaving de inventor penniwess.[60] Teswa even wost controw of de patents he had generated, since he had assigned dem to de company in exchange for stock.[60] He had to work at various ewectricaw repair jobs and as a ditch digger for $2 per day. Later in wife Teswa wouwd recount dat part of 1886 as a time of hardship, writing "My high education in various branches of science, mechanics and witerature seemed to me wike a mockery".[61][60]

AC and de induction motor

Drawing from U.S. Patent 381,968, iwwustrating principwe of Teswa's awternating current induction motor

In wate 1886, Teswa met Awfred S. Brown, a Western Union superintendent, and New York attorney Charwes F. Peck. The two men were experienced in setting up companies and promoting inventions and patents for financiaw gain, uh-hah-hah-hah.[62] Based on Teswa's new ideas for ewectricaw eqwipment, incwuding a dermo-magnetic motor idea,[63] dey agreed to back de inventor financiawwy and handwe his patents. Togeder dey formed de Teswa Ewectric Company in Apriw 1887, wif an agreement dat profits from generated patents wouwd go 1/3 to Teswa, 1/3 to Peck and Brown, and 1/3 to fund devewopment.[62] They set up a waboratory for Teswa at 89 Liberty Street in Manhattan, where he worked on improving and devewoping new types of ewectric motors, generators, and oder devices.

In 1887, Teswa devewoped an induction motor dat ran on awternating current, a power system format dat was rapidwy expanding in Europe and de United States because of its advantages in wong-distance, high-vowtage transmission, uh-hah-hah-hah. The motor used powyphase current, which generated a rotating magnetic fiewd to turn de motor (a principwe dat Teswa cwaimed to have conceived in 1882).[64][65][66] This innovative ewectric motor, patented in May 1888, was a simpwe sewf-starting design dat did not need a commutator, dus avoiding sparking and de high maintenance of constantwy servicing and repwacing mechanicaw brushes.[67][68]

Awong wif getting de motor patented, Peck and Brown arranged to get de motor pubwicized, starting wif independent testing to verify it was a functionaw improvement, fowwowed by press reweases sent to technicaw pubwications for articwes to run concurrent wif de issue of de patent.[69] Physicist Wiwwiam Arnowd Andony (who tested de motor) and Ewectricaw Worwd magazine editor Thomas Commerford Martin arranged for Teswa to demonstrate his awternating current motor on 16 May 1888 at de American Institute of Ewectricaw Engineers.[69][70] Engineers working for de Westinghouse Ewectric & Manufacturing Company reported to George Westinghouse dat Teswa had a viabwe AC motor and rewated power system — someding Westinghouse needed for de awternating current system he was awready marketing. Westinghouse wooked into getting a patent on a simiwar commutator-wess, rotating magnetic fiewd-based induction motor devewoped in 1885 and presented in a paper in March 1888 by Itawian physicist Gawiweo Ferraris, but decided dat Teswa's patent wouwd probabwy controw de market.[71][72]

In Juwy 1888, Brown and Peck negotiated a wicensing deaw wif George Westinghouse for Teswa's powyphase induction motor and transformer designs for $60,000 in cash and stock and a royawty of $2.50 per AC horsepower produced by each motor. Westinghouse awso hired Teswa for one year for de warge fee of $2,000 ($53,300 in today's dowwars[73]) per monf to be a consuwtant at de Westinghouse Ewectric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh wabs.[74]

During dat year, Teswa worked in Pittsburgh, hewping to create an awternating current system to power de city's streetcars. He found it a frustrating period because of confwicts wif de oder Westinghouse engineers over how best to impwement AC power. Between dem, dey settwed on a 60-cycwe AC current system dat Teswa proposed (to match de working freqwency of Teswa's motor), but dey soon found dat it wouwd not work for streetcars, since Teswa's induction motor couwd run onwy at a constant speed. They ended up using a DC traction motor instead.[75][76]

Market turmoiw

Teswa's demonstration of his induction motor and Westinghouse's subseqwent wicensing of de patent, bof in 1888, came at de time of extreme competition between ewectric companies.[77][78] The dree big firms, Westinghouse, Edison, and Thompson-Houston, were trying to grow in a capitaw intensive business whiwe financiawwy undercutting each oder. There was even a "War of Currents" propaganda campaign going on wif Edison Ewectric trying to cwaim deir direct current system was better and safer dan de Westinghouse awternating current system.[79][80] Competing in dis market meant Westinghouse wouwd not have de cash or engineering resources to devewop Teswa's motor and de rewated powyphase system right away.[81]

Two years after signing de Teswa contract, Westinghouse Ewectric was in troubwe. The near cowwapse of Barings Bank in London triggered de financiaw panic of 1890, causing investors to caww in deir woans to W.E.[82] The sudden cash shortage forced de company to refinance its debts. The new wenders demanded dat Westinghouse cut back on what wooked wike excessive spending on acqwisition of oder companies, research, and patents, incwuding de per motor royawty in de Teswa contract.[83][84] At dat point, de Teswa induction motor had been unsuccessfuw and was stuck in devewopment.[82][81] Westinghouse was paying a $15,000 a year guaranteed royawty[85] even dough operating exampwes of de motor were rare and powyphase power systems needed to run it were even rarer.[82][67] In earwy 1891, George Westinghouse expwained his financiaw difficuwties to Teswa in stark terms, saying dat, if he did not meet de demands of his wenders, he wouwd no wonger be in controw of Westinghouse Ewectric and Teswa wouwd have to "deaw wif de bankers" to try to cowwect future royawties.[86] The advantages of having Westinghouse continue to champion de motor probabwy seemed obvious to Teswa and he agreed to rewease de company from de royawty payment cwause in de contract.[86][87] 6 years water Westinghouse wouwd purchase Teswa's patent for a wump sum payment of $216,000 as part of a patent sharing agreement signed wif Generaw Ewectric (a company created from de 1892 merger of Edison, and Thompson-Houston).[88][89][90]

New York waboratories

The money Teswa made from wicensing his AC patents made him independentwy weawdy and gave him de time and funds to pursue his own interests.[91] In 1889, Teswa moved out of de Liberty Street shop Peck and Brown had rented and for de next dozen years wouwd work out of a series of workshop/waboratory spaces in Manhattan. These incwuded a wab at 175 Grand Street (1889–1892), de fourf fwoor of 33–35 Souf Fiff Avenue (1892–1895), and sixf and sevenf fwoors of 46 & 48 East Houston Street (1895–1902).[92][93] Teswa and his hired staff wouwd conduct some of his most significant work in dese workshops.

Teswa coiw

In de summer of 1889, Teswa travewed to de 1889 Exposition Universewwe in Paris and wearned of Heinrich Hertz' 1886–88 experiments dat proved de existence of ewectromagnetic radiation, incwuding radio waves.[94] Teswa found dis new discovery "refreshing" and decided to expwore it more fuwwy. In repeating and den expanding on dese experiments, Teswa tried powering a Ruhmkorff coiw wif a high speed awternator he had been devewoping as part of an improved arc wighting system but found dat de high freqwency current overheated de iron core and mewted de insuwation between de primary and secondary windings in de coiw. To fix dis probwem Teswa came up wif his Teswa coiw wif an air gap instead of insuwating materiaw between de primary and secondary windings and an iron core dat couwd be moved to different positions in or out of de coiw.[95]

Wirewess wighting

After 1890, Teswa experimented wif transmitting power by inductive and capacitive coupwing using high AC vowtages generated wif his Teswa coiw.[99] He attempted to devewop a wirewess wighting system based on near-fiewd inductive and capacitive coupwing and conducted a series of pubwic demonstrations where he wit Geisswer tubes and even incandescent wight buwbs from across a stage.[100] He wouwd spend most of de decade working on variations of dis new form of wighting wif de hewp of various investors but none of de ventures succeeded in making a commerciaw product out of his findings.[101]

Steam-powered osciwwating generator

Trying to come up wif a better way to generate awternating current, Teswa devewoped a steam powered reciprocating ewectricity generator. He patented it in 1893 and introduced it at de Chicago Worwd's Cowumbian Exposition dat year. Steam wouwd be forced into de osciwwator and rush out drough a series of ports, pushing a piston up and down dat was attached to an armature. The magnetic armature vibrated up and down at high speed, producing an awternating magnetic fiewd. This induced awternating ewectric current in de wire coiws wocated adjacent. It did away wif de compwicated parts of a steam engine/generator, but never caught on as a feasibwe engineering sowution to generate ewectricity.[105][106]

Powyphase System and de Cowumbian Exposition

A Westinghouse dispway of de "Teswa Powyphase System" at Chicago's 1893 Cowumbian Exposition

At de beginning of 1893, Westinghouse engineer Benjamin Lamme had made great progress devewoping an efficient version of Teswa's induction motor, and Westinghouse Ewectric started branding deir compwete powyphase AC system as de "Teswa Powyphase System". They bewieved dat Teswa's patents gave dem patent priority over oder AC systems.[107]

Westinghouse Ewectric asked Teswa to participate in de 1893 Worwd's Cowumbian Exposition in Chicago where de company had a warge space in a buiwding devoted to ewectricaw exhibits. Westinghouse Ewectric won de bid to wight de Exposition wif awternating current and it was a key event in de history of AC power, as de company demonstrated to de American pubwic de safety, rewiabiwity, and efficiency of a fuwwy integrated awternating current system.[108][109][110] Teswa showed a series of ewectricaw effects rewated to awternating current as weww as his wirewess wighting system, using a demonstration he had previouswy performed droughout America and Europe;[111] dese incwuded using high-vowtage, high-freqwency awternating current to wight a wirewess gas-discharge wamp.[112]

An observer noted:

Widin de room were suspended two hard-rubber pwates covered wif tin foiw. These were about fifteen feet apart, and served as terminaws of de wires weading from de transformers. When de current was turned on, de wamps or tubes, which had no wires connected to dem, but way on a tabwe between de suspended pwates, or which might be hewd in de hand in awmost any part of de room, were made wuminous. These were de same experiments and de same apparatus shown by Teswa in London about two years previous, "where dey produced so much wonder and astonishment".[113]

Teswa awso expwained de principwes of de rotating magnetic fiewd in an induction motor by demonstrating how to make a copper egg stand on end, using a device dat he constructed known as de Egg of Cowumbus[114] and introduced his new steam powered osciwwator AC generator.

Consuwting on Niagara

In 1893, Edward Dean Adams, who headed up de Niagara FawwsCataract Construction Company, sought Teswa's opinion on what system wouwd be best to transmit power generated at de fawws. Over severaw years, dere had been a series of proposaws and open competitions on how best to use power generated by de fawws. Among de systems proposed by severaw US and European companies were two-phase and dree-phase AC, high-vowtage DC, and compressed air. Adams pumped Teswa for information about de current state of aww de competing systems. Teswa advised Adams dat a two-phased system wouwd be de most rewiabwe, and dat dere was a Westinghouse system to wight incandescent buwbs using two-phase awternating current. The company awarded a contract to Westinghouse Ewectric for buiwding a two-phase AC generating system at de Niagara Fawws, based on Teswa's advice and Westinghouse's demonstration at de Cowumbian Exposition dat dey couwd buiwd a compwete AC system. At de same time, a furder contract was awarded to Generaw Ewectric to buiwd de AC distribution system.[115]

The Nikowa Teswa Company

In 1895, Edward Dean Adams, impressed wif what he saw when he toured Teswa's wab, agreed to hewp found de Nikowa Teswa Company, set up to fund, devewop, and market a variety of previous Teswa patents and inventions as weww as new ones. Awfred Brown signed on, bringing awong patents devewoped under Peck and Brown, uh-hah-hah-hah. The board was fiwwed out wif Wiwwiam Birch Rankine and Charwes F. Coaney.[116] It found few investors, de mid-1890s was a tough time financiawwy, and de wirewess wighting and osciwwators patents it was set up to market never panned out. The company wouwd handwe Teswa's patents for decades to come.

The fire

In de earwy morning hours of March 13, 1895, de Souf Fiff Avenue buiwding dat housed Teswa's wab caught fire. It started in de basement of de buiwding and was so intense Teswa's 4f fwoor wab burned and cowwapsed into de second fwoor. The fire not onwy set back Teswa's ongoing projects, it destroyed a cowwection of earwy notes and research materiaw, modews, and demonstration pieces, incwuding many dat had been exhibited at de 1893 Worwds Cowombian Exposition, uh-hah-hah-hah. Teswa towd The New York Times "I am in too much grief to tawk. What can I say?"[24] After de fire Teswa moved to 46 & 48 East Houston Street and rebuiwt his wab on de 6f and 7f fwoors.

X-ray experimentation

X-ray of a hand, taken by Teswa

Starting in 1894, Teswa began investigating what he referred to as radiant energy of "invisibwe" kinds after he had noticed damaged fiwm in his waboratory in previous experiments[117] (water identified as "Roentgen rays" or "X-Rays"). His earwy experiments were wif Crookes tubes, a cowd cadode ewectricaw discharge tube. Teswa may have inadvertentwy captured an X-ray image—predating, by a few weeks, Wiwhewm Röntgen's December 1895 announcement of de discovery of x-rays—when he tried to photograph Mark Twain iwwuminated by a Geisswer tube, an earwier type of gas discharge tube. The onwy ding captured in de image was de metaw wocking screw on de camera wens.[118]

In 1898, Teswa demonstrated a radio-controwwed boat which he hoped to seww as a guided torpedo to navies around de worwd.[119]

In March 1896, after hearing of Wiwhewm Röntgen's discovery of X-ray and X-ray imaging (radiography),[120] Teswa proceeded to do his own experiments in X-ray imaging, devewoping a high energy singwe terminaw vacuum tube of his own design dat had no target ewectrode and dat worked from de output of de Teswa Coiw (de modern term for de phenomenon produced by dis device is bremsstrahwung or braking radiation). In his research, Teswa devised severaw experimentaw setups to produce X-rays. Teswa hewd dat, wif his circuits, de "instrument wiww ... enabwe one to generate Roentgen rays of much greater power dan obtainabwe wif ordinary apparatus."[121]

Teswa noted de hazards of working wif his circuit and singwe-node X-ray-producing devices. In his many notes on de earwy investigation of dis phenomenon, he attributed de skin damage to various causes. He bewieved earwy on dat damage to de skin was not caused by de Roentgen rays, but by de ozone generated in contact wif de skin, and to a wesser extent, by nitrous acid. Teswa incorrectwy bewieved dat X-rays were wongitudinaw waves, such as dose produced in waves in pwasmas. These pwasma waves can occur in force-free magnetic fiewds.[122][123]

On 11 Juwy 1934, de New York Herawd Tribune pubwished an articwe on Teswa, in which he recawwed an event dat wouwd occasionawwy take pwace whiwe experimenting wif his singwe-ewectrode vacuum tubes; a minute particwe wouwd break off de cadode, pass out of de tube, and physicawwy strike him:

Teswa said he couwd feew a sharp stinging pain where it entered his body, and again at de pwace where it passed out. In comparing dese particwes wif de bits of metaw projected by his "ewectric gun," Teswa said, "The particwes in de beam of force ... wiww travew much faster dan such particwes ... and dey wiww travew in concentrations."[124]

Radio remote controw

In 1898, Teswa demonstrated a boat dat used a coherer based radio controw—which he dubbed "tewautomaton"—to de pubwic during an ewectricaw exhibition at Madison Sqware Garden.[125] The crowd dat witnessed de demonstration made outrageous cwaims about de workings of de boat, such as magic, tewepady, and being piwoted by a trained monkey hidden inside.[126] Teswa tried to seww his idea to de U.S. miwitary as a type of radio-controwwed torpedo, but dey showed wittwe interest.[127] Remote radio controw remained a novewty untiw Worwd War I and afterward, when a number of countries used it in miwitary programs.[128] Teswa took de opportunity to furder demonstrate "Teweautomatics" in an address to a meeting of de Commerciaw Cwub in Chicago, whiwe he was travewwing to Coworado Springs, on 13 May 1899.[24]

Wirewess power

Teswa sitting in front of a spiraw coiw used in his wirewess power experiments at his East Houston St. waboratory

From de 1890s drough 1906, Teswa spent a great deaw of his time and fortune on a series of projects trying to devewop de transmission of ewectricaw power widout wires. It was an expansion of his idea of using coiws to transmit power he had been demonstrating in wirewess wighting. He couwd see dis as not onwy a way to transmit warge amounts of power around de worwd but awso, as he had pointed out in his earwier wectures, a way to transmit worwdwide communications.

At de time Teswa was formuwating his ideas dere was no feasibwe way to wirewesswy transmit communication signaws over wong distances, wet awone warge amounts of power. Teswa had studied radio waves earwy on, at de time cawwed "Hertzian waves" after deir discovery by Hertz, and come to de concwusion dat de deory on dem was incorrect.[129][130] Awso, dis new form of radiation was widewy considered at de time to be a short distance phenomenon dat seemed to die out in wess dan a miwe.[131] Teswa noted dat even if deories on radio waves were true, dey were totawwy wordwess for his intended purposes since dis form of "invisibwe wight" wouwd diminish over distance just wike any oder radiation and wouwd travew in straight wines right out into space becoming "hopewesswy wost".[132]

By de mid 1890s, Teswa was working on de idea dat he might be abwe to conduct ewectricity wong distance drough de Earf or de atmosphere and began working on experiments to test dis idea incwuding setting up a warge resonance transformer magnifying transmitter in his East Houston Street wab.[133][134][135] Seeming to borrow from a common idea at de time dat de Eards atmosphere was conductive,[136][137] he proposed a system composed of bawwoons suspending transmitting and receiving ewectrodes in de air above 30,000 feet (9,100 m) in awtitude, where he dought de wower pressure wouwd awwow him to send high vowtages (miwwions of vowts) wong distances.

Coworado Springs

To furder study de conductive nature of wow pressure air Teswa set up an experimentaw station at high awtitude in Coworado Springs during 1899.[138][139][140][141] There he couwd safewy operate much warger coiws dan in de cramped confines of his New York wab and an associate had made an arrangement for de Ew Paso Power Company to suppwy awternating current free of charge.[141] To fund his experiments he convinced John Jacob Astor IV to invest $100,000 to become a majority share howder in de Nikowa Teswa Company. Astor dought he was primariwy investing in de new wirewess wighting system. Instead, Teswa used de money to fund his Coworado Springs experiments.[24][142] Upon his arrivaw, he towd reporters dat he pwanned to conduct wirewess tewegraphy experiments, transmitting signaws from Pikes Peak to Paris.[143]

A muwtipwe exposure picture of Teswa sitting next to his "magnifying transmitter" generating miwwions of vowts. The 7-metre (23 ft) wong arcs were not part of de normaw operation, but onwy produced for effect by rapidwy cycwing de power switch.[144]

There he conducted experiments wif a warge coiw operating in de megavowts range, producing artificiaw wightning (and dunder) consisting of miwwions of vowts and up to 135 feet (41 m) wong discharges and,[145] at one point, inadvertentwy burned out de generator in Ew Paso, causing a power outage.[146] The observations he made of de ewectronic noise of wightning strikes, wed him to (incorrectwy) concwude[147][148] dat he couwd use de entire gwobe of de Earf to conduct ewectricaw energy.

During his time at his waboratory Teswa observed unusuaw signaws from his receiver which he specuwated to be communications from anoder pwanet. He mentioned dem in a wetter to a reporter in December 1899[149] and to de Red Cross Society in December 1900[150][151] Reporters treated it as a sensationaw story and jumped to de concwusion Teswa was hearing signaws from Mars.[150] He expanded on de signaws he heard in a 9 February 1901 Cowwier's Weekwy articwe "Tawking Wif Pwanets" where he said it had not been immediatewy apparent to him dat he was hearing "intewwigentwy controwwed signaws" and dat de signaws couwd come from Mars, Venus, or oder pwanets.[151] It has been hypodesized dat he may have intercepted Gugwiewmo Marconi's European experiments in Juwy 1899—Marconi may have transmitted de wetter S (dot/dot/dot) in a navaw demonstration, de same dree impuwses dat Teswa hinted at hearing in Coworado[151]—or signaws from anoder experimenter in wirewess transmission, uh-hah-hah-hah.[152]

Teswa had an agreement wif de editor of The Century Magazine to produce an articwe on his findings. The magazine sent a photographer to Coworado to photograph de work being done dere. The articwe, titwed "The Probwem of Increasing Human Energy", appeared in de June, 1900 edition of de magazine. He expwained de superiority of de wirewess system he envisioned but de articwe was more of a wengdy phiwosophicaw treatise dan an understandabwe scientific description of his work[153] iwwustrated wif what were to become iconic images of Teswa and his Coworado Springs experiments.

Wardencwyffe

Teswa's Wardencwyffe pwant on Long Iswand in 1904. From dis faciwity, Teswa hoped to demonstrate wirewess transmission of ewectricaw energy across de Atwantic.

Teswa made de rounds in New York trying to find investors for what he dought wouwd be a viabwe system of wirewess transmission, wining and dining dem at de Wawdorf-Astoria's Pawm Garden (de hotew where he was wiving at de time), The Pwayers Cwub and Dewmonico's.[154] In March, 1901, he obtained $150,000 ($4,318,200 in today's dowwars[73]) from J. Pierpont Morgan in return for a 51% share of any generated wirewess patents and began pwanning de Wardencwyffe Tower faciwity to be buiwt in Shoreham, New York, 100 miwes (161 km) east of de city on de Norf Shore of Long Iswand.[155]

By Juwy 1901, Teswa had expanded his pwans to buiwd a more powerfuw transmitter to weap ahead of Marconi's radio based system, which Teswa dought was a copy of his system.[150] He approached Morgan to ask for more money to buiwd de warger system but Morgan refused to suppwy any furder funds.[156] In December 1901, Marconi successfuwwy transmitted de wetter S from Engwand to Newfoundwand, defeating Teswa in de race to be first to compwete such a transmission, uh-hah-hah-hah. A monf after Marconi's success Teswa tried to get Morgan to back an even warger pwan to transmit messages and power by controwwing "vibrations droughout de gwobe".[150] Over de next five years, Teswa wrote more dan 50 wetters to Morgan, pweading for and demanding additionaw funding to compwete de construction of Wardencwyffe. Teswa continued de project for anoder nine monds into 1902. The tower was erected to its fuww 187 feet (57 m).[152] In June 1902, Teswa moved his wab operations from Houston Street to Wardencwyffe.[155]

Investors on Waww Street were putting deir money into Marconi's system and some in de press began turning against Teswa's project, cwaiming it was a hoax[157] The project came to a hawt in 1905 and in 1906, de financiaw probwems and oder events may have wed to what Teswa biographer Marc J. Seifer suspects was a nervous breakdown on Teswa's part.[158] Teswa mortgaged de Wardencwyffe property to cover his debts at de Wawdorf-Astoria, which eventuawwy mounted to $20,000 ($478,200 in today's dowwars[73]).[159] He wost de property in forecwosure in 1915 and in 1917 de Tower was demowished by de new owner to make de wand a more viabwe reaw estate asset.

Later years

After Wardencyiffe cwosed, Teswa continued to write Morgan; after "de great man" died, Teswa wrote his son Jack Morgan, trying to get furder funding for de project. In 1906, he opened offices at 165 Broadway in Manhattan, trying to raise furder funds by devewoping and marketing his patents. He went on to have offices at de Metropowitan Life Tower from 1910 to 1914; rented for a few monds at de Woowworf Buiwding, moving out because he couwd not afford de rent; and den to office space at 8 West 40f Street from 1915 to 1925. After moving to 8 West 40f Street, he was effectivewy bankrupt. Most of his patents had run out and he was having troubwe wif de new inventions he was trying to devewop.[160]

Bwadewess turbine

Teswa's bwadewess turbine design

On his 50f birdday, in 1906, Teswa demonstrated a 200 horsepower (150 kiwowatts) 16,000 rpm bwadewess turbine. During 1910–1911 at de Waterside Power Station in New York, severaw of his bwadewess turbine engines were tested at 100–5,000 hp.[161] Teswa worked wif severaw companies incwuding de period 1919–1922 working in Miwwaukee for Awwis-Chawmers.[162][163] He spent most of his time trying to perfect de Teswa turbine wif Hans Dahwstrand, de head engineer at de company, but engineering difficuwties meant it was never made into a practicaw device.[164] Teswa did wicense de idea to a precision instrument company and it found use in de form of wuxury car speedometers and oder instruments.[165]

Wirewess wawsuits

When Worwd War One broke out, de British cut de transatwantic tewegraph cabwe winking de US to Germany in order to controw de fwow of information between de two countries. They awso tried to shut off German wirewess communication to and from de US by having de US Marconi Company sue de German radio company Tewefunken for patent infringement.[166] Tewefunken brought in de physicist Jonadan Zenneck and Karw Ferdinand Braun for deir defense and hired Teswa as a witness for two years for $1000 a monf. The case stawwed and den went moot when de US entered de war against Germany in 1917.[166][167]

In 1915, Teswa attempted to sue de Marconi Company for infringement of his wirewess tuning patents. Marconi's initiaw radio patent had been awarded in de US in 1897, but his 1900 patent submission covering improvements to radio transmission had been rejected severaw times, before it was finawwy approved in 1904, on de grounds dat it infringed on oder existing patents incwuding two 1897 Teswa wirewess power tuning patents.[168][129][169] Teswa's 1915 case went nowhere,[170] but in a rewated case, where de Marconi Company tried to sue de US government over WWI patent infringements, a Supreme Court of de United States 1943 decision restored de prior patents of Owiver Lodge, John Stone, and Teswa.[171] The court decwared dat deir decision had no bearing on Marconi's cwaim as de first to achieve radio transmission, just dat since Marconi's cwaim to certain patented improvements were qwestionabwe, de company couwd not cwaim infringement on dose same patents[172][129]

Nobew Prize rumors

On 6 November 1915, a Reuters news agency report from London had de 1915 Nobew Prize in Physics awarded to Thomas Edison and Nikowa Teswa; however, on 15 November, a Reuters story from Stockhowm stated de prize dat year was being awarded to Sir Wiwwiam Henry Bragg and Wiwwiam Lawrence Bragg "for deir services in de anawysis of crystaw structure by means of X-rays."[173][174][175] There were unsubstantiated rumors at de time dat Teswa and/or Edison had refused de prize.[173] The Nobew Foundation said, "Any rumor dat a person has not been given a Nobew Prize because he has made known his intention to refuse de reward is ridicuwous"; a recipient couwd decwine a Nobew Prize onwy after he is announced a winner.[173]

There have been subseqwent cwaims by Teswa biographers dat Edison and Teswa were de originaw recipients and dat neider was given de award because of deir animosity toward each oder; dat each sought to minimize de oder's achievements and right to win de award; dat bof refused ever to accept de award if de oder received it first; dat bof rejected any possibiwity of sharing it; and even dat a weawdy Edison refused it to keep Teswa from getting de $20,000 prize money.[173][21]

In de years after dese rumors, neider Teswa nor Edison won de prize (awdough Edison did receive one of 38 possibwe bids in 1915 and Teswa did receive one of 38 possibwe bids in 1937).[176] Despite not winning de Nobew prize, Teswa won numerous medaws and awards, many posdumouswy. They incwude:

Order of de White Eagwe, I Cwass, Government of Yugoswavia (1936)[179]

Order of de White Lion, I Cwass, Government of Czechoswovakia (1937)[179]

University of Paris Medaw (1937)

The Medaw of de University St. Cwement of Ochrida, Sofia, Buwgaria (1939)

Oder ideas, awards, and patents

Second banqwet meeting of de Institute of Radio Engineers, 23 Apriw 1915. Teswa seen standing in de center.

Teswa deorized dat de appwication of ewectricity to de brain enhanced intewwigence. In 1912, he crafted "a pwan to make duww students bright by saturating dem unconsciouswy wif ewectricity," wiring de wawws of a schoowroom and, "saturating [de schoowroom] wif infinitesimaw ewectric waves vibrating at high freqwency. The whowe room wiww dus, Mr. Teswa cwaims, be converted into a heawf-giving and stimuwating ewectromagnetic fiewd or 'baf.'"[180] The pwan was at weast provisionawwy approved by den superintendent of New York City schoows, Wiwwiam H. Maxweww.[180]

Before Worwd War I, Teswa sought overseas investors. After de war started, Teswa wost de funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries.

In de August 1917 edition of de magazine Ewectricaw Experimenter, Teswa postuwated dat ewectricity couwd be used to wocate submarines via using de refwection of an "ewectric ray" of "tremendous freqwency," wif de signaw being viewed on a fwuorescent screen (a system dat has been noted to have a superficiaw resembwance to modern radar).[182] Teswa was incorrect in his assumption dat high freqwency radio waves wouwd penetrate water.[183] But Émiwe Girardeau, who hewped devewop France's first radar system in de 1930s, noted in 1953 dat Teswa's generaw specuwation dat a very strong high-freqwency signaw wouwd be needed was correct. Girardeau said, "(Teswa) was prophesying or dreaming, since he had at his disposaw no means of carrying dem out, but one must add dat if he was dreaming, at weast he was dreaming correctwy."[184]

In 1928, Teswa received his wast patent, U.S. Patent 1,655,114, for a bipwane capabwe of taking off verticawwy (VTOL aircraft) and den be "graduawwy tiwted drough manipuwation of de ewevator devices" in fwight untiw it was fwying wike a conventionaw pwane.[185] Teswa dought de pwane wouwd seww for wess dan $1,000,[186] awdough de aircraft has been described as impracticaw.[187]

At dis time, Teswa cwosed his wast office at 350 Madison Ave., which he had moved into two years earwier.

Living circumstances

Since 1900, Teswa had been wiving at de Wawdorf Astoria in New York running up a warge biww.[188] In 1922, he moved to St. Regis Hotew and wouwd fowwow a pattern from den on of moving to a new hotew every few years weaving behind unpaid biwws.[189][190]

Teswa wouwd wawk to de park every day to feed de pigeons. He took to feeding dem at de window of his hotew room and bringing de injured ones in to nurse back to heawf.[190][191][192] He said dat he had been visited by a specific injured white pigeon daiwy. Teswa spent over $2,000, incwuding buiwding a device dat comfortabwy supported her so her bones couwd heaw, to fix her broken wing and weg.[32] Teswa stated:

I have been feeding pigeons, dousands of dem for years. But dere was one, a beautifuw bird, pure white wif wight grey tips on its wings; dat one was different. It was a femawe. I had onwy to wish and caww her and she wouwd come fwying to me. I woved dat pigeon as a man woves a woman, and she woved me. As wong as I had her, dere was a purpose to my wife.[193]

In 1934, Teswa moved to de Hotew New Yorker and Westinghouse Ewectric & Manufacturing Company began paying him $125 per monf as weww as paying his rent, expenses de Company wouwd pay for de rest of Teswa's wife. Accounts of how dis came about vary. Severaw sources say Westinghouse was worried (or warned) about potentiaw bad pubwicity surrounding de impoverished conditions under which deir former star inventor was wiving.[195][196][197][198] The payment has been described as being couched as a "consuwting fee" to get around Teswa's aversion to accept charity, or by one biographer (Marc Seifer), as a type of unspecified settwement.[197]

Birdday press conferences

In 1931, Kennef Swezey, a young writer who had been associated wif Teswa for some time, organized a cewebration for de inventor's 75f birdday. Teswa received congratuwatory wetters from more dan 70 pioneers in science and engineering, incwuding Awbert Einstein,[199] and he was awso featured on de cover of Time magazine.[200] The cover caption "Aww de worwd's his power house" noted his contribution to ewectricaw power generation. The party went so weww Teswa made it an annuaw event, an occasion where he wouwd put out a warge spread of food and drink (featuring dishes of his own creation) and invite de press to see his inventions and hear stories about past expwoits, views on current events, or sometimes odd or baffwing cwaims.[201][202]

Newspaper representation of de dought camera Teswa described at his 1933 birdday party

At de 1932 occasion, Teswa cwaimed he had invented a motor dat wouwd run on cosmic rays.[202] In 1933 at age 77 Teswa towd reporters dat, after dirty-five years of work, he was on de verge of producing proof of a new form of energy. He cwaimed it was a deory of energy dat was “viowentwy opposed” to Einsteinian physics, and couwd be tapped wif an apparatus dat wouwd be cheap to run and wast 500 years. He awso towd reporters he was working on a way to transmit individuawized private radio wavewengds, working on breakdroughs in metawwurgy, and devewoping a way to photograph de retina to record dought.[203]

At de 1934 party, Teswa towd reporters he had designed a superweapon he cwaimed wouwd end aww war.[204][205] He wouwd caww it "teweforce", but was usuawwy referred to as his deaf ray.[206] Teswa described it as a defensive weapon dat wouwd be put up awong de border of a country to be used against attacking ground-based infantry or aircraft. Teswa never reveawed detaiwed pwans of how de weapon worked during his wifetime but in 1984, dey surfaced at de Nikowa Teswa Museum archive in Bewgrade.[207] The treatise, The New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy drough de Naturaw Media, described an open-ended vacuum tube wif a gas jet seaw dat awwows particwes to exit, a medod of charging swugs of tungsten or mercury to miwwions of vowts, and directing dem in streams (drough ewectrostatic repuwsion).[208][202] Teswa tried to interest de US War Department,[209] de United Kingdom, de Soviet Union, and Yugoswavia in de device.[210]

In 1935, at his 79f birdday party Teswa covered many topics. He cwaimed to have discovered de cosmic ray in 1896 and invented a way to produce direct current by induction, and made many cwaims about his mechanicaw osciwwator.[211] Describing de device (which he expected wouwd earn him $100,000,000 widin two years) he towd reporters dat a version of his osciwwator had caused an eardqwake in his 46 East Houston Street wab and neighboring streets in downtown New York City in 1898.[211] He went on to teww reporters his osciwwator couwd destroy de Empire State Buiwding wif 5 wbs of air pressure.[212] He awso expwained a new techniqwe he devewoped using his osciwwators he cawwed "Tewegeodynamics", using it to transmit vibrations into de ground dat he cwaimed wouwd work over any distance to be used for communication or wocating underground mineraw deposits.[124]

At his 1937 cewebration in de Grand Bawwroom of Hotew New Yorker, Teswa received de "Order of de White Lion" from de Czechoswovakia ambassador and a medaw from de Yugoswavian ambassador.[202] On qwestions concerning de deaf ray, Teswa stated, "But it is not an experiment ... I have buiwt, demonstrated and used it. Onwy a wittwe time wiww pass before I can give it to de worwd."

In de faww of 1937, after midnight one night, Teswa weft de Hotew New Yorker to make his reguwar commute to de cadedraw and de wibrary to feed de pigeons. Whiwe crossing a street a coupwe of bwocks from de hotew, Teswa was unabwe to dodge a moving taxicab and was drown to de ground. His back was severewy wrenched and dree of his ribs were broken in de accident. The fuww extent of his injuries were never known; Teswa refused to consuwt a doctor, an awmost wifewong custom, and never fuwwy recovered.[33][213]

Deaf

On 7 January 1943, at de age of 86, Teswa died awone in Room 3327 of de New Yorker Hotew. His body was water found by maid Awice Monaghan after she had entered Teswa's room, ignoring de "do not disturb" sign dat Teswa had pwaced on his door two days earwier. Assistant medicaw examiner H.W. Wembwy examined de body and ruwed dat de cause of deaf had been coronary drombosis.[24]

[Teswa's] doughts and efforts during at weast de past 15 years were primariwy of a specuwative, phiwosophicaw, and somewhat promotionaw character often concerned wif de production and wirewess transmission of power; but did not incwude new, sound, workabwe principwes or medods for reawizing such resuwts.[214]

Estate

In 1952, fowwowing pressure from Teswa's nephew, Sava Kosanović, Teswa's entire estate was shipped to Bewgrade in 80 trunks marked N.T.[24] In 1957, Kosanović's secretary Charwotte Muzar transported Teswa's ashes from de United States to Bewgrade.[24] The ashes are dispwayed in a gowd-pwated sphere on a marbwe pedestaw in de Nikowa Teswa Museum.[216]

Patents

Teswa obtained around 300 patents worwdwide for his inventions.[217] Some of Teswa's patents are not accounted for, and various sources have discovered some dat have wain hidden in patent archives. There are a minimum of 278 known patents[217] issued to Teswa in 26 countries. Many of Teswa's patents were in de United States, Britain, and Canada, but many oder patents were approved in countries around de gwobe.[218] Many inventions devewoped by Teswa were not put into patent protection, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Personaw wife

Teswa worked every day from 9:00a.m. untiw 6:00p.m. or water, wif dinner from exactwy 8:10 p.m., at Dewmonico's restaurant and water de Wawdorf-Astoria Hotew. Teswa wouwd tewephone his dinner order to de headwaiter, who awso couwd be de onwy one to serve him. "The meaw was reqwired to be ready at eight o'cwock ... He dined awone, except on de rare occasions when he wouwd give a dinner to a group to meet his sociaw obwigations. Teswa wouwd den resume his work, often untiw 3:00a.m."[219]

For exercise, Teswa wawked between 8 and 10 miwes (13 and 16 km) per day. He curwed his toes one hundred times for each foot every night, saying dat it stimuwated his brain cewws.[220]

In an interview wif newspaper editor Ardur Brisbane, Teswa said dat he did not bewieve in tewepady, stating, "Suppose I made up my mind to murder you," he said, "In a second you wouwd know it. Now, isn't dat wonderfuw? By what process does de mind get at aww dis?" In de same interview, Teswa said dat he bewieved dat aww fundamentaw waws couwd be reduced to one.[221]

Teswa became a vegetarian in his water years, wiving on onwy miwk, bread, honey, and vegetabwe juices.[205][222]

Appearance

Teswa was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) taww and weighed 142 pounds (64 kg), wif awmost no weight variance from 1888 to about 1926, described by newspaper editor Ardur Brisbane as "awmost de tawwest, awmost de dinnest and certainwy de most serious man who goes to Dewmonico's reguwarwy".[221][223] He was an ewegant, stywish figure in New York City, meticuwous in his grooming, cwoding, and regimented in his daiwy activities, an appearance he maintained as to furder his business rewationships.[224] He was awso described as having wight eyes, "very big hands", and "remarkabwy big" dumbs.[221]

Eidetic memory

Teswa read many works, memorizing compwete books, and supposedwy possessed a photographic memory.[225] He was a powygwot, speaking eight wanguages: Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Engwish, French, German, Hungarian, Itawian, and Latin, uh-hah-hah-hah.[226] Teswa rewated in his autobiography dat he experienced detaiwed moments of inspiration, uh-hah-hah-hah. During his earwy wife, Teswa was repeatedwy stricken wif iwwness. He suffered a pecuwiar affwiction in which bwinding fwashes of wight wouwd appear before his eyes, often accompanied by visions.[225] Often, de visions were winked to a word or idea he might have come across; at oder times dey wouwd provide de sowution to a particuwar probwem he had encountered. Just by hearing de name of an item, he wouwd be abwe to envision it in reawistic detaiw.[225] Teswa wouwd visuawize an invention in his mind wif extreme precision, incwuding aww dimensions, before moving to de construction stage, a techniqwe sometimes known as picture dinking. He typicawwy did not make drawings by hand but worked from memory. Beginning in his chiwdhood, Teswa had freqwent fwashbacks to events dat had happened previouswy in his wife.[225]

Sweep habits

Teswa cwaimed never to sweep more dan two hours per night.[227] However, he did admit to "dozing" from time to time "to recharge his batteries."[220] During his second year of study at Graz, Teswa devewoped a passion for (and became very proficient at) biwwiards, chess and card-pwaying, sometimes spending more dan 48 hours in a stretch at a gaming tabwe.[228] On one occasion at his waboratory, Teswa worked for a period of 84 hours widout sweep or rest.[229] Kennef Swezey, a journawist whom Teswa had befriended, confirmed dat Teswa rarewy swept. Swezey recawwed one morning when Teswa cawwed him at 3 a.m.: "I was sweeping in my room wike one dead ... Suddenwy, de tewephone ring awakened me ... [Teswa] spoke animatedwy, wif pauses, [as he] ... work[ed] out a probwem, comparing one deory to anoder, commenting; and when he fewt he had arrived at de sowution, he suddenwy cwosed de tewephone."[220]

Rewationships

Teswa never married; expwaining dat his chastity was very hewpfuw to his scientific abiwities.[225] He once said in earwier years dat he fewt he couwd never be wordy enough for a woman, considering women superior in every way. His opinion had started to sway in water years when he fewt dat women were trying to outdo men and make demsewves more dominant. This "new woman" was met wif much indignation from Teswa, who fewt dat women were wosing deir femininity by trying to be in power. In an interview wif de Gawveston Daiwy News on 10 August 1924 he stated, "In pwace of de soft voiced, gentwe woman of my reverent worship, has come de woman who dinks dat her chief success in wife wies in making hersewf as much as possibwe wike man—in dress, voice and actions, in sports and achievements of every kind ... The tendency of women to push aside man, suppwanting de owd spirit of cooperation wif him in aww de affairs of wife, is very disappointing to me".[230] Awdough he towd a reporter in water years dat he sometimes fewt dat by not marrying, he had made too great a sacrifice to his work,[32] Teswa chose to never pursue or engage in any known rewationships, instead finding aww de stimuwation he needed in his work.

Teswa was asociaw and prone to secwude himsewf wif his work.[231][232][125][233] However, when he did engage in a sociaw wife, many peopwe spoke very positivewy and admiringwy of Teswa. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force."[32] His woyaw secretary, Dorody Skerrit, wrote: "his geniaw smiwe and nobiwity of bearing awways denoted de gentwemanwy characteristics dat were so ingrained in his souw."[33] Teswa's friend, Juwian Hawdorne, wrote, "sewdom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was awso a poet, a phiwosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a winguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."[234]

Teswa couwd be harsh at times and openwy expressed disgust for overweight peopwe, such as when he fired a secretary because of her weight.[243] He was qwick to criticize cwoding; on severaw occasions, Teswa directed a subordinate to go home and change her dress.[225] When Thomas Edison died, in 1931, Teswa contributed de onwy negative opinion to The New York Times, buried in an extensive coverage of Edison's wife:

He had no hobby, cared for no sort of amusement of any kind and wived in utter disregard of de most ewementary ruwes of hygiene ... His medod was inefficient in de extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anyding at aww unwess bwind chance intervened and, at first, I was awmost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing dat just a wittwe deory and cawcuwation wouwd have saved him 90 percent of de wabor. But he had a veritabwe contempt for book wearning and madematicaw knowwedge, trusting himsewf entirewy to his inventor's instinct and practicaw American sense.[244]

Bewiefs

On experimentaw and deoreticaw physics

Teswa exhibited a pre-atomic understanding of physics in his writings;[245] he disagreed wif de deory of atoms being composed of smawwer subatomic particwes, stating dere was no such ding as an ewectron creating an ewectric charge (he bewieved dat if ewectrons existed at aww, dey were some fourf state of matter or "sub-atom" dat couwd exist onwy in an experimentaw vacuum and dat dey had noding to do wif ewectricity).[246][247] Teswa bewieved dat atoms are immutabwe—dey couwd not change state or be spwit in any way. He was a bewiever in de 19f century concept of an aww-pervasive "eder" dat transmitted ewectricaw energy.[248]

Teswa was generawwy antagonistic towards deories about de conversion of matter into energy.[249] He was awso criticaw of Einstein's deory of rewativity, saying:

I howd dat space cannot be curved, for de simpwe reason dat it can have no properties. It might as weww be said dat God has properties. He has not, but onwy attributes and dese are of our own making. Of properties we can onwy speak when deawing wif matter fiwwing de space. To say dat in de presence of warge bodies space becomes curved is eqwivawent to stating dat someding can act upon noding. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view.[250]

Teswa cwaimed to have devewoped his own physicaw principwe regarding matter and energy dat he started working on in 1892,[33] and in 1937, at age 81, cwaimed in a wetter to have compweted a "dynamic deory of gravity" dat "[wouwd] put an end to idwe specuwations and fawse conceptions, as dat of curved space." He stated dat de deory was "worked out in aww detaiws" and dat he hoped to soon give it to de worwd.[251] Furder ewucidation of his deory was never found in his writings.[252]

Teswa expressed de bewief dat human "pity" had come to interfere wif de naturaw "rudwess workings of nature." Though his argumentation did not depend on a concept of a "master race" or de inherent superiority of one person over anoder, his advocacy of eugenics wed him to adopt more extreme views. In a 1937 interview he stated:

... man's new sense of pity began to interfere wif de rudwess workings of nature. The onwy medod compatibwe wif our notions of civiwization and de race is to prevent de breeding of de unfit by steriwization and de dewiberate guidance of de mating instinct ... The trend of opinion among eugenists is dat we must make marriage more difficuwt. Certainwy no one who is not a desirabwe parent shouwd be permitted to produce progeny. A century from now it wiww no more occur to a normaw person to mate wif a person eugenicawwy unfit dan to marry a habituaw criminaw.[257]

In 1926, Teswa commented on de iwws of de sociaw subservience of women and de struggwe of women toward gender eqwawity, and indicated dat humanity's future wouwd be run by "Queen Bees." He bewieved dat women wouwd become de dominant sex in de future.[258]

Teswa made predictions about de rewevant issues of a post-Worwd War I environment in a printed articwe, "Science and Discovery are de great Forces which wiww wead to de Consummation of de War" (20 December 1914).[259] Teswa bewieved dat de League of Nations was not a remedy for de times and issues.[25]

On rewigion

Teswa was raised an Ordodox Christian. Later in wife he did not consider himsewf to be a "bewiever in de ordodox sense," said he opposed rewigious fanaticism, and said "Buddhism and Christianity are de greatest rewigions bof in number of discipwes and in importance".[260] He awso said "To me, de universe is simpwy a great machine which never came into being and never wiww end" and "what we caww 'souw' or 'spirit,' is noding more dan de sum of de functionings of de body. When dis functioning ceases, de 'souw' or de 'spirit' ceases wikewise".[260]

Many of Teswa's writings are freewy avaiwabwe on de web,[262] incwuding de articwe "The Probwem of Increasing Human Energy," pubwished in The Century Magazine in 1900,[263] and de articwe "Experiments Wif Awternate Currents Of High Potentiaw And High Freqwency," pubwished in his book Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikowa Teswa.[264][265]

Legacy and honors

Teswa's wegacy has endured in books, fiwms, radio, TV, music, wive deater, comics and video games. The impact of de technowogies invented or envisioned by Teswa is a recurring deme in severaw types of science fiction, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Songs

Pwaqwes and memoriaws

The Nikowa Teswa Memoriaw Centre in Smiwjan, Croatia, opened in 2006. It features a statue of Teswa designed by scuwptor Miwe Bwažević.[11][283]

A pwaqwe depicting a rewief of Nikowa Teswa is present on de Owd City Haww (Zagreb) in Zagreb, Croatia's capitaw, commemorating his proposaw to buiwd an awternating currentpower station, which he made to de city counciw.[284] The pwaqwe qwotes Teswa's statement, given in de buiwding on 24 May 1892, which reads: "As a son of dis country, I consider it my duty to hewp de City of Zagreb in every way, eider drough counsew or drough action" (Croatian: "Smatram svojom dužnošću da kao rođeni sin svoje zemwje pomognem gradu Zagrebu u svakom pogwedu savjetom i činom").[285]

On 7 Juwy 2006, on de corner of Masarykova and Preradovićeva streets in de Lower Town area in Zagreb, a monument of Teswa was unveiwed. This monument was designed by Ivan Meštrović in 1952 and was transferred from de Zagreb-based Ruđer Bošković Institute where it had spent previous decades.[24][286]

A monument of Teswa standing on a portion of an awternator was estabwished at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Fawws, Ontario, Canada. The monument was officiawwy unveiwed on 9 Juwy 2006 on de 150f anniversary of Teswa's birf. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Fawws, and designed by Les Drysdawe of Hamiwton, Ontario.[288][289] Drysdawe's design was de winning design from an internationaw competition, uh-hah-hah-hah.[290]

In 2012 Jane Awcorn, president of de nonprofit group Teswa Science Center at Wardencwyffe, and Matdew Inman, creator of web cartoon The Oatmeaw, raised a totaw of $2,220,511 – $1,370,511 from a campaign and $850,000 from a New York State grant—to buy de property where Wardencwyffe Tower once stood and eventuawwy turn it into a museum.[292][293] The group began negotiations to purchase de Long Iswand property from Agfa Corporation in October 2012.[294] The purchase was compweted in May 2013.[295] The preservation effort and history of Wardencwyffe is de subject of a documentary by Teswa activist/fiwmmaker Joseph Sikorski cawwed "Tower to de Peopwe-Teswa's Dream at Wardencwyffe Continues."[296]

A commemorative pwaqwe honoring Nikowa Teswa was instawwed on de façade of de New Yorker Hotew by de IEEE.[297]

An intersection named after Teswa, Nikowa Teswa Corner, is at de intersection of Sixf Avenue and 40f Street in Manhattan, New York City. The pwacement of de sign was due to de efforts of de Croatian Cwub of New York in cooperation wif New York City officiaws, and Dr. Ljubo Vujovic of de Teswa Memoriaw Society of New York.[298]

A fuww-size, crowdfunded statue honoring Teswa wif free Wi-Fi and a time capsuwe (to be opened on de 100f anniversary of Teswa's deaf, 7 January 2043) was unveiwed on 7 December 2013 in Pawo Awto, Cawifornia (260 Sheridan Avenue).[300]

^Cheney 2011, p. 25, "The tiny house in which he was born stood next to de Serbian Ordodox Church presided over by his fader, de Reverend Miwutin Teswa, who sometimes wrote articwes under de nom-de-pwume 'Man of Justice'".

^Carwson 2013, p. 14, "Fowwowing a reprimand at schoow for not keeping his brass buttons powished, he qwit and instead chose to become a priest in de Serbian Ordodox Church".

^Burgan 2009, p. 17, "Nikowa's fader, Miwutin was a Serbian Ordodox priest and had been sent to Smiwjan by his church.".

^Teswa's contemporaries remembered dat on a previous occasion Machine Works manager Batchewor had been unwiwwing to give Teswa a $7 a week pay raise (Seifer – Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikowa Teswa , page 38)

^Teswa's own experiments wed him to erroneouswy bewieve Hertz had miss identified a form of conduction instead of a new form of ewectromagnetic radiation, an incorrect assumption dat Teswa wouwd howd on to for a coupwe of decades.

^Mawanowski, Gregory (2011). The Race for Wirewess: How Radio was Invented (or Discovered?). AudorHouse. p. 36. ISBN978-1-4634-3750-3. Teswa was definitewy asociaw, a woner. Awdough in his younger years he was immensewy popuwar and admired by many rich, sociawite women, dere were no women in his wife.

^McNichow, Tom (2011). AC/DC: The Savage Tawe of de First Standards War. John Wiwey & Sons. pp. 163–64. ISBN978-1-118-04702-6. Teswa's pecuwiar nature made him a sowitary man, a woner in a fiewd dat was becoming so compwex dat it demanded cowwaboration, uh-hah-hah-hah.

^Bewohwavek, Peter; Wagner, John W (2008). Innovation: The Lessons of Nikowa Teswa. Bwue Eagwe. p. 43. ISBN978-987-651-009-7. This was Teswa: a scientist, phiwosopher, humanist, and edicaw man of de worwd in de truest sense.

^Seifer, Marc J (1996). Wizard: de wife and times of Nikowa Teswa: biography of a genius. Citadew Press. p. 506. ISBN978-0-8065-1960-9. Frank Jenkins, "Nikowa Teswa: The Man, Engineer, Inventor, Humanist and Innovator," in Nikowa Teswa: Life and Work of a Genius (Bewgrade: Yugoswav Society for de Promotion of Scientific Knowwedge, 1976), pp. 10–21.